This was a fairly congenial hearing. I am not certain if a transcript of the hearing will show up, which includes the Q & A among the senators and the witnesses. Otherwise, you’ll have to watch the streaming video.

The following is a compilation of editorials related to the American Community Survey. The Senate will be voting for an appropriations bill, which includes funding for the Census Bureau. In the House version of this bill, the ACS was scrapped – not just made voluntary. Search on “data/ACS Census” for previous posts on the ACS funding saga.

Census Bureau information requests are redundant [Letter to the Editor]
R E Laraway | Morning Sun [Mt. Pleasant, MI]July 25, 2012
This letter writer is against the ACS because he sees redundancies in surveys. He argues that much of the information asked in surveys the government already has – like the IRS.

These ongoing surveys ask many of the same questions that were asked on the 10-year census survey. However, the same government regulations that control all these surveys also prohibit sharing responses across surveys. In other words the government continually uses our tax dollars to get information from us that they already have. (IRS for example).

As I stated earlier federal law requires participation in the 10-year census. I’m told by the U.S. Census Bureau that participation in the ongoing “Current Population Survey” and the “Consumer Expenditure Survey” are not required by law. I will keep that in mind when next contacted I understand the need for most, not all, but most of the information requested.

I do not understand nor will I support the redundant efforts, questions, and expense involved in the current methods of surveys.

Webster also argued for the cut stating that the ACS “is not a scientific survey, it’s a random survey.” This is wrong. Randomization is what makes the survey scientific. Just like a physician doesn’t need to withdraw all of your blood to accurately assess your health, the ACS doesn’t need to interview the entire population. However, the portion of the population interviewed must be chosen at random to ensure that the sample represents the population as a whole.

Waxahachie is in Texas and the author uses a nice Friday Night Lights analogy to express what it would be like for businesses, planners, non-profits, state/local governments, etc. to operate without the American Community Survey. Here’s a taste:

Football is a longstanding tradition in Texas, with high expectations for rigor, skill, and success. But what if I told you that one day, all of the playbooks and player stats would just disappear? Coaches would no longer have information on how the opposing team is performing. Or, worse yet, how their own team was performing, or what types of players they might need to add to develop a winning game plan. And if you don’t have good statistics, you can’t know if what you are doing is making conditions better or worse.

That, my friends, is exactly what will happen for businesses, governments, and nonprofits if Congress stops funding the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

The following point might be tongue-in-cheek as many House members who voted to de-fund the ACS link to ACS-generated characteristics about their Congressional District from their websites:

It is inspiring to see that Senator Hutchison and Senator Cornyn believe in the value of the American Community Survey data so much that they link to the data from their official U.S. Senate websites as a way to inform their constituents.

We hope Texans from across the state will ask Senators Hutchison and Cornyn to continue showing their support by voting to fully fund the American Community Survey and keep our playbook intact.

But first we have to rescue the program from political assassination. All business people know you can’t solve problems or allocate resources rationally without metrics. We should demand our senators show that they know it, too, and vote to preserve the ACS.

This essay evaluates sources of data for understanding higher education in the US. She touches on the importance of the ACS and concludes:

Granted, data isn’t sexy. It doesn’t hold a lot of popular appeal. Nobody is going to run for president on a “More data! Better data!” platform. And as Oscar Wilde reminds us, “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” Gathering good data is challenging. Making sense of data is even more so, especially in complex social contexts.

Nonetheless, we need to get at the truth the best we can, using the best data possible, so that policymakers, educators, philanthropists and community leaders can make informed decisions. So I’ll say it, even if I don’t have the stump: “More data! Better data!”

Survey Respondents: Mercenaries or Slaves?
Casey Mulligan | The New York TimesJune 27, 2012
This entry from the Economix blog discusses issues associated with making the ACS voluntary. The companion “voluntary ACS” bill on the Senate side is sponsored by Rand Paul [S. 3079]. Two quotes from his piece summarize his view:

Economic data is valuable, which is why survey respondents should be paid for their efforts.

Economic data would be of better quality if supplied, as Milton Friedman put it, by mercenaries rather than by slaves.

During the Great Recession, millions of Americans turned to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, to help pay for food. This brief summarizes a roundtable discussion among experts, advocates and government officials focused on SNAP’s role during the recession and beyond, including its impact on poverty, food insecurity and health. Experts concluded that SNAP does more than combat hunger – it is an antipoverty program, a work support, a promoter of health and nutrition, and an automatic stabilizer in recessions.

Among the 50.7 million Hispanics in the United States, nearly two-thirds (65%), or 33 million, self-identify as being of Mexican origin, according to tabulations of the 2010 American Community Survey (ACS) by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. No other Hispanic subgroup rivals the size of the Mexican-origin population. Puerto Ricans, the nation’s second largest Hispanic origin group, make up just 9% of the total Hispanic population in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Asian Americans are the highest-income, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group in the United States. They are more satisfied than the general public with their lives, finances and the direction of the country, and they place more value than other Americans do on marriage, parenthood, hard work and career success, according to a comprehensive new nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center.

A century ago, most Asian Americans were low-skilled, low-wage laborers crowded into ethnic enclaves and targets of official discrimination. Today they are the most likely of any major racial or ethnic group in America to live in mixed neighborhoods and to marry across racial lines.

More than a year after the first stirrings of the Arab Spring, there continues to be a strong desire for democracy in Arab and other predominantly Muslim nations. Solid majorities in Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan believe democracy is the best form of government, as do a plurality of Pakistanis.

Indeed, these publics do not just support the general notion of democracy – they also embrace specific features of a democratic system, such as competitive elections and free speech.

A substantial number in key Muslim countries want a large role for Islam in political life. However, there are significant differences over the degree to which the legal system should be based on Islam.

This is a compressed compilation of the speeches that various scientists gave at the ‘Death of Evidence’ protest. Or to quote the tag-line for this article: “(D)ata distorted for ‘propaganda’ and other complaints against the Harper government made at last week’s Ottawa rally.”

Most of these article and blog entries are related to Jeff Flake’s amendment to a House appropriations bill, which stripped funding for Political Science from NSF. The Senate should be acting on the appropriations bill that funds NSF in the next few weeks.